Slow Shy Love
by amaandahjoyce
Summary: A Lucian fanfic.
1. Chapter 1

"Ian!" Lucy blew the few loose hairs escaping her ponytail out of her face. "Ian, help me! I'm gonna drop them!" She felt the boxes start to slide again and froze.

"Here, I've got them." Ian easily grabbed the stack of boxes from Lucy.

"Thanks bay." She pushed the hair out of her face.

_Does she wonder how I feel when she calls me that? _Ian thought to himself while he carried the boxes to the studio. Marlene had brought some office supplies and a few special order props for the scene they were working on shooting today with her and had asked Lucy and Ian to get them from her car. Lucy being the stubborn person she was, tried to grab the boxes all herself. But Ian admired that about her. She always tried to do more than what was expected of her.

He approached the door and waited for Lucy to open it for him. "After you, Mr. Harding." "Thank you Miss Hale." She playfully shoved his shoulder and giggled. _My god. Hearing something as simple as a giggle from her drives me wild. _Ian watched Lucy make her way to the other girls, laughing at a video that Ashley was showing them. He studied her posture, and the delicate way her hair curled at the nape of her neck now that she was just the slightest bit sweaty. The way she tilted her head up when she laughed. The way her lips curved and how white her perfect teeth were. He could see the way her eyes shined.

A door slammed behind him, knocking him out of his reverie. He realized he was still holding the boxes and made his way to Marlene's office. "Oh hi, Ian. Just set them down there and we'll get everything situated later. Where's Lucy?"

"Ah, she bailed on me. She's with the girls."

Marlene smirked and gave a knowing nod. "If anyone could manipulate you into doing everything, it'd be Lucy. I needed to see you both though, we made a few changes to the script late last night and an Ezria scene was one of them."

"Okay", Ian said nodding. "Just let me run and get her really quick and you can let us both know together." He was already bouncing on his heels and getting ready to turn out of the room when Marlene stopped him.

"Ian, wait."

"I've been meaning to ask you something I've been… hearing about." Her tone was concerned, a tad curious. Ian wondered what in the world she was about to ask him. "You know here at the WB we do not discourage actors and actresses from having off set relationships, but we do like to sit down with the pair and discuss how it could affect their character's on-screen chemistry and such."

Ian was struck dumb. _What? _

"I don't like to pry or meddle in people's personal lives Ian, but is there something going on with you and Lucy off-screen?"

_WHAT? _Ian was sure his face was the epitome of shock. He didn't even know what to say. "Marlene, with all due respect, you've got it all wrong. Lucy and I are simply friends. I'm not sure why people would have been talking about us, but there is honestly nothing going on."

Marlene studied his face. She knew Ian well enough to know that he couldn't play off a joke very well, and judging by the way he was acting shocked right now, she didn't doubt for a minute that he was telling the truth. _Does he…really have no idea? _"Oh. Well like I said it was just a few things I had been hearing around the set. Just taking precaution." She turned her back towards him and began shuffling papers around on her desk. She had a quick meeting with the rest of the writer's to go over what they had changed the night before.

"I'll just get you and Lucy together later on and we can go over everything."

Ian was still rooted to the spot. "Tog-together?" His hands began moving in front of him with the syllables of the word like they did when he grew nervous.

She glanced over her shoulder at him. "To study the new lines, Ian."

"Right. Well, I'll.. see you later then.." He walked unsurely out of her office and down the hall to where the rest of the cast was still seated around Ashley's chair, laughing. _Probably another Youtube video_, he thought. He was about to walk on and head over to his dressing room where he could sit in silence and read the new book he had picked up from Barnes and Nobles the following morning when a particularly glorious and beautiful laugh hit his ears. He looked over to see Lucy with her head held back letting loose a guttural laugh, tears streaming from her eyes. She had her hand on the back of Ashley's chair to steady herself. A few more locks of shiny brunette hair had slipped loose from her ponytail. Ian had the sudden urge to run his fingers through them. He slowed till he had almost stopped, just staring at her.

She straightened back up and her eyes found their way to Ian's. They were glistening and there were tear tracks down her cheeks. Her cheeks were flushed pink and she had the most marvelous smile on her face. _God, she is so beautiful._ She gave him a sweet smile and broke her eye contact when Ashley, completely oblivious to the exchange, nudged her to show her something else.

Ian seemed to realize that he was staring yet again and hastily made his way towards his dressing room.

Lucy looked back where Ian had been standing and instead briefly saw him before he disappeared behind a set. _Probably on his way to his_ _dressing room_ she thought. Her smile faltered just the slightest before she was nudged again by Ashley, being sucked back into the laugh fest.

Someone that had been watching the two exchange smiles and stares leaned against a wall, deep in thought. _Nothing going on…._ Her thoughts were broken when she heard her name being called.

"Marlene? You ready?"

"Yeah, I'm coming."

She took one last look at Lucy before walking away. _They really have no idea._


	2. Chapter 2

"_I will remember your face_

_Cause I am still in love with that place._

_But when the stars are the only things we share,_

_Will you be there?"_

Ian hummed lightly to himself as he slowly changed back into his own clothes. They had wrapped scenes for the day, and although he and Lucy had only one scene together and it didn't include kissing, he was feeling content. He undid the last two buttons of the shirt he had on and grabbed his gray sweatshirt off the back of the chair in his dressing room, slipping it over his head.

His phone buzzed and Ian looked around for it, spotting it on the couch nearby. He clicked the home button to see one new text message.

"_Wanna possibly give me a lift to my apartment? I stayed with Ash last night and thought she'd bring me back but Ryan just picked her up."_

Ian stared at the screen suddenly lost in thought_. Give Lucy a ride. Yes…_

"_Come on, I'll even buy Chick-fil-a if you drive us by there ;)"_

Ian quickly hit back _"Sure, just give me a few minutes to collect my things and I'll meet you by my car"_ before he took a deep breath and let it slowly back out. He looked at his reflection in the mirror. Disheveled hair, a sweatshirt that had a few small holes in the sleeves, and he had dark circles under his eyes. He had stayed up late last night watching a documentary on the importance of Going Green. Ian attempted a half smile at his reflection before realizing how stupid it all was. He grabbed his phone, water bottle, book, and keys before turning off the light and shutting the door.

When he rounded the corner of the lot and saw Lucy standing by his car in short shorts and a slightly-too-big-for-her sweater his heart did a somersault. Her hair was down and she had a concentrated look on her face as she stared down at her iPhone.

"Hey you."

Lucy looked up and smiled broadly. "Thank you sooooo much for this. I owe you one."

"Uh, duh. You're buying me food. They have cheesecake right?" Ian asked with a smirk on his face.

"Yessss."

Ian hit the power unlock button on his key fob and they both got in. As she was closing the door the wind blew in her direction and he got a whiff of the perfume she was wearing. _Mmmm._ He had the sudden urge to press his face into her neck and smell it forever.

He turned the car on and backed out of the parking space while Lucy began changing his radio stations.

"Ugh. Absolutely nothing good on. Do you mind?" She indicated her iPhone and plugged it into his car. Gavin DeGraw's Where You Are came blasting out of the car's sound system. Ian smiled contently. He loved Lucy's love for Gavin DeGraw. He loved Lucy's love for anything really.

"I wanna be where you aaare I feel the same as I did from the staaart oooohhh I wanna be where you aaare and I'm willing to get theeeere." Lucy sang at the top of her lungs. Ian's heart swelled with love. _She is the most magnificent person I've ever met._ Ian remembered the ustream they had done together and how Lucy said she wanted to one day do Broadway_. She definitely will. She's perfect for it._

"What are you thinking about?"

Ian looked over with a dazed look. "What?"

"I don't know, you looked out of it for a second there."

Ian cleared his throat. "Yeah sorry, I'm just a little tired."

Lucy watched him as he drove on, nearly running a red light. _He's so adorable._ She let out a sigh and looked out her window at the passing stores and people walking their dogs. Ian made a left turn and pulled into Chick-fil-a's parking lot, driving around to the drive thru.

"Hi thank you for choosing Chick-fil-a, this is Kaitlin, can I take your order?

"Um just a minute for us please."

"Order whenever you're ready."

"Luc, what do you want?"

Lucy craned her neck and squinted her eyes. "I seriously cannot see anything. Hold on." She took off her seatbelt and leaned across Ian's seat so that her elbows were resting on his leg. "Ummmm. Can I get a ten piece nugget and a small waffle fry?"

"Okay, anything else?"

Silence followed. Lucy looked up at Ian confused as to why he wasn't speaking and saw him staring down at her like he had never seen her before. "Uh, Ian?"

Ian took one look into her eyes and had the most powerful feeling he had ever felt run through his body. He almost kissed her. She was right there and it was a perfect moment but he stopped himself right before he leaned forward in the slightest. He couldn't do this. He wasn't himself. He was overtired and hungry and just needed to get to his apartment and go to sleep.

"Ian….." Lucy slowly leaned up and back over to her seat wondering what the hell was wrong with Ian. "Hey, are you okay?" She reached over to grab his hand and squeezed it.

"Anything else?"

A car honked behind them and Ian seemed to realize that he was indeed sitting in the drive thru having a serious debate with himself about wanting to kiss Lucy. "Uh yeah just one chicken sandwich with no pickles."

"Thank you that will be $11.84. Please pull around to the second window."

"Ian is everything alright? You're acting really dazed and confused. Should I drive?"

"No no no. Everything is fine. I just need to sleep. Promise."

_Why are you such an idiot? _Ian mentally cursed himself. He paid for the food and while he was waiting for his change he realized he forgot to order his cheesecake. _Oh well._

"Any sauce or ketchup for you guys?"

"Ohh ohh ketchup and honey mustard please" Lucy called from the passenger seat.

They took the bag and drove away. The drive to Lucy's apartment was rather quiet aside from Heartbeat by The Fray playing softly and the sounds of Lucy munching on her nuggets and fries. Ian's sandwich lay untouched in the bag_. I'll eat it later._

He pulled into the apartment parking lot and up to Lucy's building.

She looked over at him. "Do you wanna come up?"

"Nah, I'm just gonna go home and sleep."

"Please? You haven't seen Jack in a long time. We miss you."

Ian considered going up. He would really love it but as much as he wanted to, he needed to sleep. "Nah Luc. Next time." He turned to look at her and his eyes found hers. "Promise." He could see the trace of disappointment on her face.

"Oh, well okay." She grabbed her purse and trash from her food and was about to open the passenger door when she looked over at Ian again. He was staring at her with a tired but happy expression_. Now or never._ She leaned over to him and lightly pressed her lips to his cheek. He smelt like a mixture of soap and his cologne. Lucy breathed in his smell and slowly pulled away. "Thank you." She looked into his eyes for a few seconds, and then turned and got out of the car, shutting the door. She smiled to herself as she continued up to her building.

Ian watched in shock and hopeless love as she walked away.


	3. Chapter 3

He wasn't sure how long he had sat there completely overcome with feelings, maybe 10-15 minutes. The sound of his stomach growling had made him realize he was still sitting in the parking lot of Luc's apartment.

_She kissed me_, he thought. The sudden urge to see her was strong so he turned his car off and undid his seat belt, deciding that even though he was tired, he would deal with it. This moment was too precious to pass up. He hit the power lock on his car keys as he walked up to her building.

He had only been here a couple of times, once after their very first day of shooting together here in LA, and a few times when he would swing by early on a weekend to see if she wanted to catch a movie. Ian let his mind wander to the first time he came by her place as his feet lead him down the hallways to her door. She was so eager for him to come over that night. She had made vegetarian ravioli and breadsticks, but had ended up burning the breadsticks because she was too busy rushing to get ready. He laughed as he remembered. They had watched a movie afterwards and nestled into each other on her couch.

He hoped they could go back to that. Maybe tonight.

He stopped in front of her door and was about to knock when he heard her laugh. _Maybe she's on the phone with Claire. Or playing with Jack. _

His hand lingered in the air. _But she told me to come up. I'll just let myself in and surprise her._ A smirk played across his face as he quietly opened her door.

The first thing he saw when he walked in was her back facing him. _She didn't even hear me._ He slowly walked towards before he saw her hands go to the sides of her shirt and pull it over her head, her hair falling back down her shoulders.

_SHIT. What do I do? _Ian froze and couldn't move, his eyes frantically searching for somewhere to hide. He heard her laugh again and looked back at her. She was slowly sliding her shorts down her legs. _OH GOD. I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS IS HAPPENING RIGHT NOW. _

He turned and was tiptoeing back to her front door when he noticed her sweater on the ground next to her shoes and….another pair of shoes.

And a men's shirt.

And a belt.

The trail of clothes lead his eyes back to where Lucy had been standing and watched her straddle a half naked guy who was not Ian on her couch. His hands were in her hair and on her face and on her back and arms and legs and Ian felt sick and anger radiated from his body and he heard her moan "Chris" and he felt like strangling whoever the fuck this dude was. He couldn't subject himself to look any longer at this disgusting scene and grabbed the door to wrench it open when he heard a bark.

Incessant barking.

At him.

_Jack, you little shit_.

"Oh my god!" Lucy jumped off the couch and covered herself with her arms. "Ian! What are you doing in here?"

"You told me. To come up." His voice shook with anger and he looked away. "You told me to come up because you missed me. I walk in to find you fucking some dude on your couch."

"Ian, no-"

"Shut up."

"Hey man don't tell her to shut up." Ian looked at Chris with disbelief in his eyes. "Are y- "

"Ian!" Lucy grabbed his arm but he wrenched it away.

"Man, you need to leave." Chris was suddenly at Lucy's side. He looked at the pair of them half dressed and he felt nauseous and more pissed than he ever thought possible and suddenly his fist was flying into Chris's face and Chris was covering his head with his arms and Lucy was yelling and crying and begging and Jack was barking and Ian was walking out.


End file.
